Bachelor of Performance students in the 2013 production of Embers by Campion Decent. Image by Heidrun Lohr.
Student performers and theatre-makers at AIM Dramatic Arts are feeling the momentum build for what is set to be an exciting year of performance from the acting and theatre-making department of the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney.
Based centrally next to Town Hall station, AIM Dramatic Arts has just unveiled an exciting 2014 performance season which will see continuing and graduating students from the Bachelor of Performance program produce and perform in revamped classics, highly acclaimed international and Australian contemporary plays, and daringly different new short works.
Guiding these productions are some of the country’s most talented theatre directors including Kate Gaul, Stefanos Rassios and Shane Anthony, who will share their wealth of knowledge, experience and artistry with the Bachelor of Performance students.
Head of Dramatic Arts Peta Downes said that the school is innovative with its training methods and approaches to performance, exposing our students to some of Australia’s best theatre practitioners.
‘The vision for the Bachelor of Performance degree is to train new Australian theatre artists who are more than actors,’ she said.
Downes said that students are taught to be collaborators who can think, write, develop, create and produce new work as well as perform, and go on to make an indelible mark on the national and international theatre landscape.
For the very first time, 2014 will also see AIM’s Dramatic Arts department offer a second intake of the Bachelor of Performance program in the same year, a move that is set to innovate the delivery of performance education programs across the country.
Any hopeful actor or theatre-maker looking for a unique and robust performance training experience is urged to consider applying before the trimester commences on 19 May.
‘The Bachelor of Performance program is a two-year full-time intensive which allows students to accelerate their studies and immerse themselves in their training for a shorter time,’ said Downes.
A focus on producing multi-skilled graduates at AIM Dramatic Arts has been key to the department’s governing vision of harnessing creative potential, and paramount in creating sustainable career opportunities within what’s often a competitive creative arts climate.
‘There are too many people out there calling themselves actors and the true artists can become invisible unless they are making their mark in other ways,’ said Downes.
‘To be successfully employed in the theatre industry, you must have a diverse set of skills which enable you to develop a creative idea, assemble a team and see the project through to fruition.’
Theatre director Stefanos Rassios, who will direct one of three plays in the Dramatic Arts performance season production of Hell Hath No Fury: Elektra, Medea & Phaedra, said that the Bachelor of Performance is the only undergraduate course in Sydney which looks at every aspect of theatre-making.
‘In addition to acting, students take classes in directing, stage management and design. In that sense it is fundamentally different to other Bachelor acting courses that are available.’
‘Most other courses at other cities in Australia singularly drop you in as a performer, or at post graduate level where you might learn about directing or design,’ he said.
Rassios said that students in the Bachelor of Performance have the opportunity to learn about all of the theatre arts disciplines and at same time receive the chance to develop and exercise those skills across the two years.
‘People come into the course thinking they just want to be an actor, but by the time they leave they are also interested in stage management or design.’
Rassios added that many graduates from the program go on to form companies with the people they have met while studying. ‘Most of them tend to want to create their own works,’ he said.
‘Others go on to further study to continue in the particular field they want to explore. Others just find work in acting or the specific area they are interested in.’
‘In that sense, AIM Dramatic Arts offers more than just a foundation theatre course where you might go in not knowing what you might want to do. It offers something more than just that. You leave with skills to continue on a path that you have discovered you have a passion for.’
Formerly known as the Australian Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA), AIM Dramatic Arts has recently expanded its administration and production offices to take up Level 4 of Pilgrim House in Sydney’s Pitt Street.
The new level also boasts two new studios and a green room for students, which join the existing studios on levels one and three, and the Pilgrim Theatre, which is a key training space and home for many of the student performances.
In 2014, AIM Dramatic Arts will present two works in the Pilgrim Theatre and will use AIM’s newest venue Australian Hall for its two other performance seasons.
In addition to the 2014 Performance Season, the Dramatic Arts department will also present a series of professional development opportunities for beginners, graduates and teachers in the form of panel discussions and play readings, as well as short courses, weekend intensives and master classes in Acting, Collaborating and Devising, Shakespeare, Directing and Physical Theatre.
Visit the AIM Dramatic Arts website to apply for a place in the Bachelor of Performance program, book tickets for the 2014 Season or sign up to the e-newsletter to receive information about other AIM Dramatic Arts events.
